Thursday, 26 June 2014

The NBA draft is the equivalent of Christmas for most NBA fans (except Cleveland but I will come to that). Previously for the last couple of decades, David Stern (playing the role of Santa) rocks up to the podium (read Christmas tree) and tells you which teenager you will be cheering on for the next decade.

This year Adam Silver, the new NBA Santa, will read out the names of the players in which your sporting hopes will rest. If you have been good (or your team has an awesome GM) then you will land a star player that will guide your team to championship, after championship (thanks Timmy!). If you are Cleveland or Portland then you draft a player that will leave you for a more desirable location or have fundamental health issues.

So how much does it matter if you pick first, second or sixtieth? Bill Simmons, king of Sports Satire, this week published an article looking at which order the players from the last couple of decades would those players go.

Here's the article for those who want to have a read - http://grantland.com/features/nba-draft-crapshoot-repick-1995/

Well as I was reading, I thought of only one thing - slope chart!

I hope you enjoy the new storyboarding feature in Tableau as I walk you through the last six years of the NBA draft showing there is still hope for all.